Nevermore: Mind of a Raven
by The-Ugly-Turtleduckling
Summary: An in depth look at Raven's life through her eyes, set before The End. Really nothing else to say about it, but please R&R!


Okay, this is just a little oneshot I thought up while riding the bus home from school one day, about Raven and her thoughts on her life right before "The End". Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any other copywrited thing in this story, blah blah blah.

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Nevermore: Mind of a Raven

This is my story. Who am I? Raven Roth, half-blood daughter of the demon Trigon and the mortal Arella. Cursed to walk the earth for my whole life bearing unimaginable, uncontrollable power over my shoulders and scorned by beings from all dimensions. Before I get started, I am just going to clear this up. This is NOT a fairytale story. There is no happy ending, and I doubt there ever will be. This is not for the faint of heart, and those who enjoy stories with the fluffy bunnies and magic forests should leave. I will only tell this once, so listen well, and if you do not, it isn't my problem.

Problems. Everyone seems to have them, don't they? You have a big test coming up, maybe your friend is depressed, or maybe your parents are getting divorced. They're no one's cup of tea, but problems are essential to growth and maturity. They teach you things. Maybe that's why some-I'm not naming names-are sixteen and act like they're still in grade school, or those...like me...act forty when, in reality, they are only eighteen. The cause? Those 'problem' things I was talking about a second ago. They have forced me into a lifelong battle against my emotions, some of which would cause the entire universe to be enslaved should I let them loose for a mere millisecond. So I remain cynical and detached, floating over life like a bad dream and believed to be 'creepy' by those who don't understand...which is basically everyone. Even my closest friends, however far and few between they may be, don't know...they don't know.

'What don't they know?' you may ask. Well...long before I was spawned, (yes, _spawned_) a prophecy had been formed. The proud and terrible demon Trigon, master of the 8th dimension or something like that, who was locked away in a dimension of solitary confinement after an epic battle centuries ago, would gather a horde of human followers and sire a child. A child with a human mother. That ill-fated half-demon child would serve as a portal into the 3rd dimension for its father shortly after its eighteenth birthday. Trigon would then take over the dimension and become all-powerful once more. Using...illicit...methods, he successfully impregnated my mother with his evil spawn. In other words, me.

When I was born, the kind monks of the other-dimensional city Azarath took the woman, Angela--dubbing her Arella, or 'messenger angel' in their tongue--along with her accursed baby, in. Their leader, Azar, taught me to control my dark powers as I grew. Powers of telepathy, control of a massive black chakra, and the ability to steal pain and emotions. She gave me my own mantra to help keep their destructive nature in check and release measured amounts at times, which was _Azarath Metrion Zinthos. _When I turned fifteen, they sent me to Earth to learn of mortal culture and keep me safe from my father, who had discovered where I was and had broken out of his prison. Azarath was shortly disintegrated by his wrath--the dimension in which the planet Earth resided was unavailable to him, beyond the reach of his body. Only his mind could reach, connected to mine by his blood that flows through my veins, and he has tried to sway me to his side multiple times--anytime my anger was aroused.

This is what makes me dangerous to anyone and everyone around me. This is why I am so distant, cold...and unfeeling. It is for the good of the people of Earth that I suffer, for if I did not--if I let my emotions run free--they would surely die. All of them. Horrifically. They would burn to death in the fiery pits of Hell on Earth, as a gigantic red demon laughed and drew joy from hearing their screams. After I first arrived in Earth's dimension, I was fine for a while--staying in the shadows, stealing what I needed to eat. No attachments grew between humans and myself, and so they were safe. That all changed, however, when I saw a fight between a group of humans--a spiky-headed teenager, a metal man, and a green kid--and a redheaded prisoner. I helped--just once, and for a fleeting second--and found myself drawn into the midst of their little 'super-group'.

Life has not been the same since. I helped them save the world from an alien menace--unwillingly, but the metal man helped me feel like I belonged. And I believed him. In a group of superpowered teens, nothing and no one is strange, and he helped me see that. Cyborg (that is the metal man's name) has become much of a 'big brother' figure to me during the time I've spent with the group--we ended up calling ourselves the "Teen Titans", comforting me and hanging out whenever either of us felt down. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After destroying the alien threat, Cyborg and the spiky-headed kid--Robin--built a tower on an island, which became the team headquarters. They asked me to stay, and, having nowhere else to go, I accepted their invitation. Robin is the leader, and I have to say, besides being a little obsessive and power-hungry at times, does a good job of it. He is a sensible boy, and a solace in the crazy world I accidentally got swept into.

Beast Boy, however,--the green boy--is my greatest threat at the moment. His constant need to irritate me strains my emotional control, and I've lost my temper on him more than once. Thankfully, the blowups haven't been catastrophic enough to cause any real problems. But I digress. The little green changeling keeps us all motivated with his optimistic, cheery attitude, and has saved me more than once, physically and emotionally. But no, I'm...I'm not going to go into details there. The redheaded girl Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were fighting when I met them--Starfire--had joined up with us after she was able to calm down enough to tell us her story. The aliens had been keeping her as a foreign prize for their leader--she was an exotic princess of the planet Tamaran--and we saved her, so she decided to stay here, and learn of Earth cultures.

All of the people I have described are my 'friends', and yes, they do not know my story. I doubt I will ever tell them...at least, not until it is too late. And it is already far too late, for my eighteenth birthday has come and gone, and the end is approaching quickly. Now, though, I fear not only for the lives of innocent civilians whom I have never met, but for my dear friends--who have risked their lives for me time and time again. I wonder what the looks on their faces will be when I unwillingly betray them...

I am hollow. Broken. Shattered. I should never have let myself open up to them...but I did. And it was both the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and the worst mistake I have ever made.

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Well, there it is! My first oneshot...tell me what you think, and if you see any mistakes, (grammatically or storyline-wise) please point them out to me. I didn't have quite all the details when I wrote this, and improvised in certain areas. Thank you for reading, and I do hope you review! 

TeenTitans4evr


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